


Severus Snape's Sorrow

by Emrys MK (mk_malfoy)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Baby Harry Potter, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Gen, Good Severus Snape, Missing Scene, POV Severus Snape, Past Character Death, Pre-Canon, Sad, Severus Snape Has a Heart, Severus Snape’s Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 21:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15518877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_malfoy/pseuds/Emrys%20MK
Summary: Before Hagrid came for Harry and took him to number four, Privet Drive, there was another visitor to the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow.





	Severus Snape's Sorrow

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a Harry Potter fic in seven years but decided to write one today to celebrate Harry's birthday. It was meant to be a happy story, but somewhere between the thought and the actual typing... this other idea popped into my mind about a younger Severus Snape and baby Harry. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, etc. I claim nothing!

Severus sat on the floor, Lily in his arms, and allowed the tears to fall. He couldn’t accept that she was gone, but the proof was the lifeless body in his arms, and the sound of her son wailing in his cot brought the truth home. The toddler was crying for a mother that would never again be able to comfort him. Severus thought the boy had every right to cry and to never stop.

Her son would never know how wonderful and precious his mother was.

Severus knew.

When no one else had given him the time of day, this little boy’s mother had. She had been the light in Severus's darkness. Lily Potter had made an otherwise miserable existence for him bearable. 

Maybe one day Severus would tell the boy all about his mother.

Severus forced himself to look away from Lily’s face and glance at the boy, who was now looking at him with such sadness that it made Severus want to take that little boy in his arms and never let him go. He felt immense sorrow for him. Severus knew what it was like to grow up in a loveless environment. Lily and James had loved their son with all their hearts—Severus knew this just as he knew his mother and father had never loved him—but now that Harry’s parents were gone…

There were, of course, several scenarios for where Harry could end up, but Severus had a sinking suspicion that the boy’s aunt would end up with him. Not that she deserved him, mind, but she was his only family.

Petunia did not deserve anything that had been Lily’s, most especially her son.

Just as quickly as the sorrow for the child had come, it went when Severus remembered that it was down to Harry that his mother was now lifeless, all of that beauty and goodness forever gone from this world. 

All because of him.

Had there not been a Harry Potter, this would have never happened and Lily Potter would have many years ahead of her yet, not growing stiff and colder by the minute as the one person who knew her better than anyone else held her and shed tears. 

Several minutes later Severus carefully set Lily on the ground. He needed to leave. Someone would be here soon and Severus couldn’t be seen. No matter that he had loved Lily, if found at the scene of this horrendous crime, he would be accused of taking part.

“Oh, Lily, how can I say goodbye?” he asked as he looked towards the door. How could he leave? All he wanted to do was sit here with Lily in his arms. “The Dark Lord will pay for this, I promise you, Lily.”

At that moment Harry let out a piercing scream and his cries increased, large tears rolling down his small face, and tiny arms reaching out towards Severus as he looked at the strange man whom he had never seen before.

But neither had Severus seen the boy before.

He had never wanted to. 

Now, however, looking at him, Severus felt a protectiveness that he couldn’t explain. Yes, he blamed Harry for his mother’s death, but he knew that the boy had not killed his mother. The Dark Lord had.

But making his heart understand that wasn’t going to be an easy ask.

Against his better judgment—time was ticking and he needed to leave—Severus walked over to the cot and picked up the distraught child. He cradled him in his arms, but as expected, Harry, who was not an infant, but a squirming toddler, was having none of that. Severus repositioned him and then sat in the chair beside the cot, curious about the wound on Harry’s forehead. Had he fallen? Or had the Dark Lord done that to him? Whichever had happened, someone would soon tend to it and the boy would be fine.

Severus and Harry sat together in joint mourning for some time, the boy sniffling but no longer crying, and Severus doing the same. Finally, when Severus could wait no longer, he returned the boy to his cot and left, sending his Patronus to Dumbledore as soon as he was outdoors. 

With one final look at the house, Severus mouthed, “I love you, Lily,” and disapparated.


End file.
